12 People You Need to Know in 2024: Winter Kinne

Making it to the top of an organization is certainly cause for pride, but Winter Kinne stepped into her new role as president and CEO of Community Foundation of the Ozarks Inc. on Nov. 20, 2023, with a different approach. For her first days on the job, her primary goal was to humbly listen.

“I don’t want to assume that just because I’ve been here for a while that I know everything there is to know,” Kinne says.

Succeeding 15-year CFO leader Brian Fogle, she plans to take extra care to listen to the staff and board, as well as partners and community collaborators.

Kinne has spent 18 years at the nonprofit – sufficient time to learn an organization inside and out. She began working as communications coordinator in 2005, her first job post-college.

Staying at the same organization so long requires plenty of passion, says Kinne, noting she “fell in love” with both the nonprofit and its mission to enhance southern and central Missouri’s quality of life by helping donors set up charitable funds for causes they care about.

It’s an honor, she says, every time someone chooses CFO to set up a charitable fund as part of an estate plan.

The nonprofit had $420 million under management as of late 2023 and employed 28 people, in addition to supporting 11 part-time coordinators for its 54 affiliate foundations. Moreover, it works with 700 nonprofit partners.

“It’s just a big deal to help somebody continue their legacy and their perpetuity,” Kinne says.

Kinne’s care for her community not only motivates her career, but also her involvement outside of her job. She’s served on the boards of Community Blood Center of the Ozarks and St. Louis-based Philanthropy Missouri. She also is a member of the Greene County Estate Planning Council.

Additionally, Kinne co-chaired two successful Springfield Public Schools bond campaigns tallying $388 million, in 2019 and 2023.

“That’s sort of alongside my professional life,” Kinne says, “but it’s something that I’m certainly very proud of as well.”

As for her professional future, Kinne plans on more growth – both for herself and the organization. CFO had about $85 million in assets under management, 200 nonprofit partners and 33 affiliates when she first started. Now, preparing for the organization potentially becoming a $1 billion foundation is on her radar. If so, she says ensuring CFO doesn’t drift from its mission is crucial.

“Community Foundation has experienced a lot of growth in the 18 years that I’ve been here,” she says, “and I’ve been able to grow right alongside it.”